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Why Not More Conversation about VAC?

As I browse Audiogon's posts...I'm constantly amazed at the lack of attention, questions, remarks about VAC, (Valve Amplification Company).
First and foremost, I'm thinking that most if not all of us are music lovers--and I'm not aware, subjectively, of course, of more, just out and out, musical sounding electronics. And, I don't mean that in a perjorative, 'colored' sense...I mean that in the most flattering sense.
The lack of comments may mean nothing, but it just strikes me as 'absent' from good discussions.
Second, and beyond the stellar sound, if you want great gear, and a great person to buy it from, who better in terms of accommodation, knowledge and service than Kevin Hayes. Like the Bobster (Palkovic) his reputation for building first rate stuff and then backing it to the hilt is unsurpassed.

Kevin is also a great guy AND music lover of the first order...a friend too, but I'm not shilling here, just seriously wondering why VAC isn't further up the discussion ladder.

Kinda like reading Motor Trend Magazine, in which they 'Test Drive' a Mustang in EVERY ISSUE!!!

Just wondering.

Larry
lrsky

Showing 5 responses by dearing

dearing
48 posts
 
Dev: Very interesting. I'd very much like to hear the 450.

Mr. Hayes: If you are following this thread, please consider toning down the ad copy in your description of the 450 on your site - way too heavy and not credible.
dearing
48 posts
 
I don't agree that there is a lack of discussion about VAC in the on-line forums - there are not as many threads as there are for brands such as Audio Research, but there seems to be a relatively steady flow. And the threads seem to be overwhelmingly positive, very much along the lines of Lrsky's thread here.

An aside about Elizabeth's experience with the Standard preamp: a friend and I test-drove that preamp at some length in his system about then years ago - we both found it to be nothing special and he didn't buy it. Afterwards, however, we both had occasion to sample the Renaissance amps and preamps - that stuff, in contrast, was REALLY good.
dearing
48 posts
 
My opinion is that VAC has very much been considered on the cutting edge, performance-wise. The 300B-based Renaissance amps (30/30, 70/70, 140/140), especially, are some of the very best production push-pull amps ever made - fully point-to-point wired, extreme parts quality, and really careful implementation - their sound quality is very competitive to anything built before or since that I have experienced.
dearing
48 posts
 
Drubin: The Renaissance 30/30 is thought by many knowledgeable audiophiles to be the best amp VAC ever made - a real finesse amp that is extremely transparent and musical. It also plays a lot bigger than 30 watts/channel and will drive pretty much any speaker (although it's obviously not always going to be the right choice, i.e., inefficient speakers in big rooms with big music). The 70/70, as it has twice the number of ouput devices and thus a more complex circuit, is not quite as good, but is still excellent and is far more practical - its 65 watts/channel, which are coming from an amp with really stiff power supplies and superb output transformers, are usually enough.

Islandmandan: Because the circuit of a tube amp is the tubes, tube quality will dramatically affect results.
dearing
48 posts
 
Dev: Your dissatisfaction with the CAT amps intrigues me - what was the problem? The lower-powered JL-1 monos were designed in part to be able to drive the MBL 101's.
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